Running back has been one of the more hot-button positions in the league in recent years. While this offseason saw more backs being paid unlike a year ago, there are still questions surrounding whether or not teams should commit a sizable amount of their salary cap on them for multiple years. The thought against doing so is simply due to the wear-and-tear a back takes and the lack of game-to-game dependability as they age. It's sound logic, but some don't see it that way, including star Saquon Barkley.
The veteran back signed a three-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles this offseason, and even as he enters his age 27 season (relatively old for running back standards), he is vehemently dismissing the questions surrounding longevity.
"That's [BS]," Barkley told "The Philadelphia Inquirer." "Marcus Allen played until he was 36, 37 years old. Some of the greats that I admire and I look up and study, they played well into their 30s. Barry (Sanders) left at 29, 30 and he left in his prime. It's what you put in, what you put in is what you get out. That's any position. There's this weird thing with running backs right now. Is it a difficult position to play? Yes. Do you take wear and tear? Yes. But who are you or anyone else to tell me how long I can play the game? I call [BS].
"When it's over for me, it's over for me. But I feel like if I continue to put the right stuff in my body and do the right things, there will be a day when I'm 32 or 33, and I want to hang it up, and I'm going to do it just because."
Barkley has faced some serious injuries throughout his career, which has opened up some questions about how he'll age. He's had multiple ankle injuries and tore his ACL in his third season in the league. While Barkley keeps himself in tip-top shape, he does admit that injuries can happen in an instant.
"I've been trying to control everything," Barkley said. "Like, 'I have to do this so I won't get hurt.' I can't control that. My three or four injuries I've had in the NFL are flukes. There was nothing I could do to change them. But that's what it is -- everything I want to be and all the potential people talk about, when I'm on the field, I'm that and more."
When healthy, however, Barkley is as talented as they come at the running back position, and the Eagles are betting that he'll remain on the field throughout his tenure and help bring the franchise back into Super Bowl contention.
"For me, it's simple," Barkley said. "When I'm on the field, I'm one of the best, if not the best. I just have to stay on the field. Knock on wood, it's not injuries like a pulled hamstring or something like that, I tore my knee and I had two or three high ankle sprains that sat me out. ... Everything I want is still there. Everything I wanted to accomplish, I can still go out there and do it. I just have to believe in myself and go to work. If it doesn't happen, it wasn't in the cards, but every day I'm going to try to climb up that mountain and try to make it to the top."
Last season, Barkley appeared in 14 regular season games for the Giants and totaled 1,242 yards and 10 touchdowns from scrimmage.
